Island Living Questions

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal

Mike, when it's time to actually go out and look at island properties, I highly recommend that you give Nancy DePorter of Keller Williams Lakes and Mountains Realty a call. 603-498-3573 Nancy is absolutely wonderful and is a knowledgable islander and is a well seasoned boater. Tell her that RG sent ya! We listed our place with her last season and will relist with her as soon as the camp is ready at ice-out.

Nancy is awesome and I second that recommendation. When we my wife and I bought our place she was there every step of the way and there is nobody else quite like her. In fact her husband just got his license and the two of them are now working together. Between the two of them you will not find more knowledgeable and dedicated folks to work with. They are the best no question about it. Don't be fooled by others that supposedly specialize in island property, you may find yourself disappointed.

[JMR]

RG

Sad to hear you are leaving the island. Good luck in the future and let know where you end up.

[rgilfert]

RG, I just saw your post and I am speechless ..... so sorry to hear that you're leaving the island. You were the very first person that I met when we bought our place on the island in fall 2011. You were kayaking by and stopped by to introduce yourself and say "hi" .... we had a great conversation that afternoon! My best wishes go out to you guys in life's next chapter!!

[RidgeRunner31]

Originally Posted by MAXUM

Nancy is awesome and I second that recommendation. When we my wife and I bought our place she was there every step of the way and there is nobody else quite like her. In fact her husband just got his license and the two of them are now working together. Between the two of them you will not find more knowledgeable and dedicated folks to work with. They are the best no question about it. Don't be fooled by others that supposedly specialize in island property, you may find yourself disappointed.

I'm actually already working with Nancy!

This past fall I came across some older threads and noticed you had some very nice things to say about Nancy. Your comments were one of the reasons my wife and I decided to work with her!!

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Some camps/cottages have alternative septic systems. If you find one with an electric toilet... Run away!!! Just kidding. Plan on replacing it early on. Here is a post from another thread on the subject:

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Guy

Dan
Note: this started as a PM but after reading it to my family, they encouraged me to post it here. I am still not sure... but if it saves a life...

I am just going to rattle off the issues. Celia is helping me with the list in no particular order.

The device requires a paper liner to be inserted into a stainless steel clam shell, sort of like putting a coffee filter in a coffee maker. Not a big deal for us regulars, but it freaked out our company a bit.

The liquid and solids go into that big paper cone. We had some guest with bladders that were capable of overflowing the cone. The result was urine running out of the unit while they were sitting there.

The concept of drying out the solids to ash actually works pretty well but the addition of all the liquid really slowed down the process. I was pretty impressed with how little ash remained from all the use.

The paper cone did not always go down into the heated pot correctly. Sometimes it would not go far enough down for the cover over the burn chamber would not close. This required you to interact with a combination of poop, liquid and paper in various forms of being on fire.

When the materials are dehydrating (boiling and burning), the vapor would pass through the unit and as it touched cooler surfaces of the unit, it would condense this brownish sticky buildup on the inside of the unit that would require periodic disassembly and cleaning. Truly disgusting. To add insult to injury, this sticky condensate was great at catching dust and ash that was also being pulled through the same air paths.

If you flush the unit while sitting, you would not have to worry about shaving anything for a long time.

One time we had a power failure while the unit was running. The coals were still burning but the fan was no longer running. It took about a month to get the smell out of the camp.

When we moved in, the exhaust stack was a straight shot out the back of the camp which hit the wall of rock behind us with the steep island. It became obvious with the 4 of us here in the summer, this was not going to work from an oder standpoint.

We raised the stack to a height of about 10 feet. It was not good enough to satisfy the smell factor of certain contributions.

We lengthened the burn time to insure that it was burning completely. Otherwise you end up with a build up each time. This helped the amount of clean outs we had to do.

Eventually, you have to take the burn pot out and scrape the ash and build up out of it. The constant heating of the stainless pot with liquids caused it to corrode. This made the ease of cleaning pretty tough.

The fan is pretty noisy and runs a long time for each cycle. I think we were doing a 2 hour cycle. Lots of rattling with the constant vibrating from the fan.

Raised the stack another 10 feet. This helped but it was sometimes bad enough we had to leave the deck on the other side of the house depending on the wind direction. Its a tough smell. And everyone knows what it is. I found myself trying to time my bathroom activities to when the family was leaving the house for a while.

The 20 foot stack was taken down and put up each season as I was not sure how it would survive the winter.

I think that's about it.

The smell. It is too easy a target. It's not good. And the little pellets they sell to mask the smell are useless.

We changed out to a plumbed in over sized composting unit and love it. Not perfect but compared to the incinolet, it is great.

Let me know if I missed anything.

Paul

Good times.

If the property that you are considering has a composting unit, be sure it is large enough to handle your family's needs. If it's too small, consider an upgrade. The composting units are very easy to maintain and on the upside, you don't need to hire a barge to bring a pump truck to the island.

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by RidgeRunner31

I'm actually already working with Nancy!

This past fall I came across some older threads and noticed you had some very nice things to about Nancy. Your comments were one of the reasons my wife and I decided to work with her!!

Great! Now all you need to do is find the perfect place. The hardest part is waiting, but it'll be worth it when you do and the deal is done.

Good luck!

[goldfly600]

I have been eagerly reading this thread, soaking up all the advice and half-afraid to read something I hadn't thought of before! My husband and I just closed on a house on the west side of Rattlesnake and we are dying to get out there. We looked at the house just once in August, and the incinolet almost scared us off. We have a new septic system being installed shortly after ice-out. Reading the play-by-play of the Incinolet above does much to bolster my confidence I having made the decision for the new septic!

We are excited about our new adventure, and an "adventure" it will be as we try to figure out how to hook up the water and navigate all the inevitable challenges of which we are not yet aware. We have only spent one week on an island last August, but it was enough to get us hooked on island living. I am looking forward to meeting our neighbors!

Best,
Beth

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by goldfly600

I have been eagerly reading this thread, soaking up all the advice and half-afraid to read something I hadn't thought of before! My husband and I just closed on a house on the west side of Rattlesnake and we are dying to get out there. We looked at the house just once in August, and the incinolet almost scared us off. We have a new septic system being installed shortly after ice-out. Reading the play-by-play of the Incinolet above does much to bolster my confidence I having made the decision for the new septic!

We are excited about our new adventure, and an "adventure" it will be as we try to figure out how to hook up the water and navigate all the inevitable challenges of which we are not yet aware. We have only spent one week on an island last August, but it was enough to get us hooked on island living. I am looking forward to meeting our neighbors!

Best,
Beth

Welcome to the Forum. Savor your 1st trip out after ice out this year. It will be the best.

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by goldfly600

I have been eagerly reading this thread, soaking up all the advice and half-afraid to read something I hadn't thought of before! My husband and I just closed on a house on the west side of Rattlesnake and we are dying to get out there. We looked at the house just once in August, and the incinolet almost scared us off. We have a new septic system being installed shortly after ice-out. Reading the play-by-play of the Incinolet above does much to bolster my confidence I having made the decision for the new septic!

We are excited about our new adventure, and an "adventure" it will be as we try to figure out how to hook up the water and navigate all the inevitable challenges of which we are not yet aware. We have only spent one week on an island last August, but it was enough to get us hooked on island living. I am looking forward to meeting our neighbors!

Best,
Beth

Welcome to the Forum and enjoy your new place. Hope the transition goes super smooth.

[Descant]

We are now into the fourth generation of island living. The one thing we are missing is a written history. I hope you will keep a journal and related pictures of EVERYTHING. When previous generations started, nobody knew how historic this island stuff could be.

[IslandRadio]

Originally Posted by goldfly600

I have been eagerly reading this thread, soaking up all the advice and half-afraid to read something I hadn't thought of before! My husband and I just closed on a house on the west side of Rattlesnake and we are dying to get out there. We looked at the house just once in August, and the incinolet almost scared us off. We have a new septic system being installed shortly after ice-out. Reading the play-by-play of the Incinolet above does much to bolster my confidence I having made the decision for the new septic!

We are excited about our new adventure, and an "adventure" it will be as we try to figure out how to hook up the water and navigate all the inevitable challenges of which we are not yet aware. We have only spent one week on an island last August, but it was enough to get us hooked on island living. I am looking forward to meeting our neighbors!

Best,
Beth

Welcome to the Island ! We're on Rattlesnake, and not too far from you at #250 (further down the Island on the "thumb" AKA the peninsula)

Hopefully, you (and/or your husband) are handy with tools and the like. It's kind of mandatory on the Island

Putting the water in usually isn't too bad. Some setups are a lot easier than others - it depends on how yours is constructed. Priming the pump is usually the biggest problem I face, not having a self priming pump. Do you know anything about the water setup?

The addition of a septic will certainly ease your Island life quite a bit !! Things will feel almost "normal"

That section of the Island where your place is located is generally somewhat protected from the heaviest winds unless they're coming in from the South or close to it - and usually (but not always) those winds are not nearly as strong as the winds that hit us from a Westerly direction.

Give a shout (or a PM) if you get stuck with something or need help or another set of eyes or just want to say "hello".

We hike the trails a lot and often go end-to-end, so we're up behind your place when hiking over to Washington Point.

Regards, Steve (AKA IslandRadio)

[goldfly600]

Originally Posted by IslandRadio

Welcome to the Island ! We're on Rattlesnake, and not too far from you at #250 (further down the Island on the "thumb" AKA the peninsula)

Hopefully, you (and/or your husband) are handy with tools and the like. It's kind of mandatory on the Island

Putting the water in usually isn't too bad. Some setups are a lot easier than others - it depends on how yours is constructed. Priming the pump is usually the biggest problem I face, not having a self priming pump. Do you know anything about the water setup?

The addition of a septic will certainly ease your Island life quite a bit !! Things will feel almost "normal"

That section of the Island where your place is located is generally somewhat protected from the heaviest winds unless they're coming in from the South or close to it - and usually (but not always) those winds are not nearly as strong as the winds that hit us from a Westerly direction.

Give a shout (or a PM) if you get stuck with something or need help or another set of eyes or just want to say "hello".

We hike the trails a lot and often go end-to-end, so we're up behind your place when hiking over to Washington Point.

Regards, Steve (AKA IslandRadio)

Thanks for the message, Steve.

I wield a mean paint brush, but apart from that, the best I can offer is that I take direction well. My husband, Todd, on the other hand, is great with tools, despite being an English professor. He's handy with home improvement and boats / engines and isn't afraid to tackle projects and figure things out.

We know absolutely nothing about the water set-up, but I'm glad to hear you say it isn't too bad! We will just have to wait and see on a lot of it, but we are eager to get to work.

Looking forward to meeting you!
Beth

[IslandRadio]

Ok sounds good! If the ice ever melts, that is

The first year on the Island was the earliest ice out in history (at that time) - March 24th, and it was a beautiful, warm summer too ! Two years later we had March 23rd for ice out....

No such luck this year but maybe we'll get a nice April warm up!

[Flyfisha]

Hey Goldfly
Welcome to Rattlesnake. I am farther down the island.

Don't let the Incinolet scare you off until you get the septic installed. I have been running two of them for years. One in our camp and one in our old outhouse. We have a family of eight-- sure it requires maintenance but does the job. Use it until you get you septic settled and when you are done let me know if you want to get rid of it!! With a family of eight we could always use a spare!

[Leoskeys]

Does Diamond have an interior walking trail?

[northforty]

Thanks for mentioning that- keeping an island log/history. Our family log dates to 1879 when forebears would stay on Camp Island. They finally bought in 1912 in the Forties. Some pretty interesting tales survive not to mention the sense of continuity... priceless.